Last Tuesday Tara Parker-Pope’s Well column for the NYTimes focused on the stresses in the workplace due to performance reviews.  She referenced research studies as well as specific examples of workers who were stressed by and not made more productive by performance reviews.  Likely more money has been spent in HR departments on performance reviews than any other process but as noted, with little success.    Not that the battle to get a good system doesn’t make sense.

Organizationa are concerned with productivity and performance.  Naturally performance review systems seem a logical way to help people get the feedback they need, improve where they need to and then increase their productivity.  Simple, elegant, but doesn’t really work that way in the vast majority of organizations.

What really happens is there is a void—the time between when the person gets the review and well—the next review!  Rather than being motivated to improve and become intent on working on one’s progress, many people often are either not pleased and hence unmotivated to improve, pleased but disinterested or don’t know how to improve,  pleased but not sure what to do next—-basically not using the appraisal process and their feedback in any sort of productive way.

The answer is more coaching on a regular basis—not an occasional review—-Ms. Parker-Pope’s article suggests the same—but where are the manager coaches or the peer coaches or the help to coach oneself?  My partners and I have been working on this issue for over 10  years—doing research on ways to provide additional coaching at reasonable cost.  What we have come to believe is that without some forms of online coaching and strong coaching support for most managers, there will never be adequate coaching for everyone who needs it.  Let me repeat that—without some type of solid online coaching support which allows people to get coaching help they need, or without a way to support managers who want to be better coaches with hands on easy to use online support for their coaching others, adequate coaching will never happen.

Simple right?  Yes, but—always a but—-many dismiss online coaching thinking it is coaching by email—it is not.  Or, some high priced personal coaches and HR professionals  insist only in person or one to one personal coaching is adequate to really provide coaching—it is not.  The point is, what is needed is something that has been around in some formats but underutilized—performance support coaching tools—but the resistance is still great and the acceptance of new paradigms challenging. 

Take a good look at www.e-coachonline.com  Online coaching support is here—why not take a look at what some small numbers have already figured out?  Happy to keep the discussion going—-there will always be a need for personal coaches—but without coaching online the void will never be filled—at your organization of 10 people or 10000 people.  Open your mind to the possibilites.

Here are some simple but I think  meaningful things you can do to be more productive in meeting your own goals and those of  organizations you work with  in 2010.

If you are working and either overwhelmed or unsure about technology/social media just jump into the mix of some new technology tools and don’t worry if you are briefly overwhelmed and don’t do well.  Just experiment and find one, two or three ways to become more savvy about technology.  Find some new technology that helps you do what you want to do better—not just because it is new, fun,or distracting but because it helps you do something you want to do faster, easier, in a way that is working now versus an older less viable approach or cheaper.  We need more focus, less stress and using technology as a way to help you in that way it will make sense to you.  New technology tools are not rocket science and you can easily adjust —I have a kindle for goodness sake.  The key is being selective and using things as a tool to meet your needs and goals—not others.

But, under no circumstances give up your belief that personal real and genuine relationships of all kinds are the most important thing in the world of work.  Use technology to bring you closer to people.   But hold fast to your focus on people and relationships.  Having hundreds of freiends on facebook or 800 contacts on Linkedin doesn’t mean you have terrific working relationships that support you personally or profesisonally.  

If you are a worker young or just very tech savvy and involved with it 24/7, promise yourself to do something not technology focused for a co-worker, a person that works for you or someone you work for.  A young 30ish woman I coached last year (often through technology) sent me a handmade scarf for Christmas—that knocked me out—refreshing and suprising and going to have a lasting impact on our relationship and my willingness to help support or recommend her going forward.  Call someone and meet with them.  Take time to listen to people rather than focusing on instantly responding all the time. Make believe tweets and emails and IMs cost $5.00 each—-or $10.00—-do you need to send this particular note or could a call or personal reach out be more helpful to solve the business problem or handle the issue?   While there used to be too many inperson meeting and gathering, there are often not enough–think before you respond through technology.

Essentially I am suggesting two things—more attention—and balance—-try more uses of technology if you avoid it and try less if you are enamored of it.     

Thinking critically is my other suggestion.  We are becoming more viseral and less thoughtful—change is awesome, technology rocks, but if you can’t think about the assumptions behind what you are doing or others are doing, if you can’t take time to digest and mull things over, you are going to be less creative and innovative—the very things most necessary in these challenging times.  Careful analysis never guarantees success, and one’s gut is often a great guide for some types of action especially if you are very experienced and can thin slice information.  But that said, the biggest challenges most business and organizations face need fresh thinking and more broad thinking—more critical views and more openness to see things in a fresh way.

Attention and thinking.  Improve them both to make positive things happen in 2010.

If you watched the Wimbledon match between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick on July 5th you saw an example of two people, both working unbelievably hard in a focused and determined way. They played for 4 hours and 18 minutes—at full speed. They were neck and neck—they kept competing. Eventually, Andy Roddick missed a shot and Roger Federer won. Mr. Roddick looked like he was crying while holding himself together and speaking graciously to the crowds.

This is a perfect example of how doing everything right can still not work in a given situation. Something we hate to think about, but something that does happen—to the best, the brightest, the hardest working and most prepared. Andy Roddick had hired a new coach—the gold standard of performance excellence. He took his coach’s advice, lost weight, developed a spot on strategy and worked consistently and with extreme discipline and precision.

But when he got to the finals—a triumph in itself, he failed to win the championship trophy. (more…)